Original manuscript of the treaty (transcription), as kept by the U.S. National Archives.

Joint control steadily grew less tolerable for both sides. After a British minister rejected U.S. PresidentJames K. Polk's offer to settle the boundary at the 49th parallel north, Democraticexpansionists called for the annexation of the entire region up to Parallel 54°40′ north, the southern limit of Russian America as established by parallel treaties between the Russian Empire and the United States (1824) and Britain (1825). However, after the outbreak of the Mexican–American War in April 1846 diverted U.S. attention and military resources, a compromise was reached in the ongoing negotiations in Washington, D.C., and the matter was settled by the Polk administration (to the dismay of its own party's hardliners) to avoid a two-war situation and a third war with the formidable military strength of Great Britain in less than 70 years.

Ambiguities in the wording of the Oregon Treaty regarding the route of the boundary, which was to follow "the deepest channel" out to the Strait of Juan de Fuca and beyond to the open ocean, resulted in the Pig War, another boundary dispute in 1859 over the San Juan Islands. The dispute was peacefully resolved after a decade of confrontation and military bluster during which the local British authorities consistently lobbied London to seize back the Puget Sound region entirely, as the Americans were busy elsewhere with the Civil War. The San Juans dispute was not resolved until 1872 when, pursuant to the 1871 Treaty of Washington, an arbitrator (the German Emperor) chose the American-preferred marine boundary via Haro Strait, to the west of the islands, over the British preference for Rosario Strait which lay to their east.

The treaty also had the unintended consequence of putting what became Point Roberts, Washington on the "wrong" side of the border. A peninsula, jutting south from Canada into Boundary Bay, was made by the agreement, as land south of the 49th parallel, a separate fragment of the United States.

^officially titled the Treaty between Her Majesty and the United States of America, for the Settlement of the Oregon Boundary and styled in the United States as the Treaty with Great Britain, in Regard to Limits Westward of the Rocky Mountains, and also known as the Buchanan-Pakenham (or Packenham) Treaty or (sharing the name with several other unrelated treaties) the Treaty of Washington

Her Majestys Most Honourable Privy Council, usually known simply as the Privy Council, is a formal body of advisers to the Sovereign of the United Kingdom. Its membership mainly comprises senior politicians, who are present or former members of either the House of Commons or the House of Lords, the Council holds the delegated authority to issue Orders of Council, mostly used to regulate certain public institutions. The Council advises the sovereign on the issuing of Royal Charters, which are used to grant special status to incorporated bodies, the Privy Councils powers have now been largely replaced by the Cabinet of the United Kingdom. The Judicial Committee consists of judges appointed as Privy Counsellors, predominantly Justices of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom. The Privy Council of the United Kingdom was preceded by the Privy Council of Scotland, the key events in the formation of the modern Privy Council are given below, Witenagemot was an early equivalent to the Privy Council of England.

During the reigns of the Norman monarchs, the English Crown was advised by a court or curia regis. The body originally concerned itself with advising the sovereign on legislation, later, different bodies assuming distinct functions evolved from the court. The courts of law took over the business of dispensing justice, the Council retained the power to hear legal disputes, either in the first instance or on appeal. Furthermore, laws made by the sovereign on the advice of the Council, powerful sovereigns often used the body to circumvent the Courts and Parliament. During Henry VIIIs reign, the sovereign, on the advice of the Council, was allowed to enact laws by mere proclamation, the legislative pre-eminence of Parliament was not restored until after Henry VIIIs death. Though the royal Council retained legislative and judicial responsibilities, it became an administrative body. The Council consisted of forty members in 1553, but the sovereign relied on a smaller committee, by the end of the English Civil War, the monarchy, House of Lords, and Privy Council had been abolished.

The remaining parliamentary chamber, the House of Commons, instituted a Council of State to execute laws, the forty-one members of the Council were elected by the House of Commons, the body was headed by Oliver Cromwell, de facto military dictator of the nation. In 1653, Cromwell became Lord Protector, and the Council was reduced to thirteen and twenty-one members, all elected by the Commons. In 1657, the Commons granted Cromwell even greater powers, some of which were reminiscent of those enjoyed by monarchs, the Council became known as the Protectors Privy Council, its members were appointed by the Lord Protector, subject to Parliaments approval. In 1659, shortly before the restoration of the monarchy, the Protectors Council was abolished, Charles II restored the Royal Privy Council, but he, like previous Stuart monarchs, chose to rely on a small group of advisers. Under George I even more power transferred to this committee and it now began to meet in the absence of the sovereign, communicating its decisions to him after the fact.

Thus, the British Privy Council, as a whole, ceased to be a body of important confidential advisers to the sovereign and it is closely related to the word private, and derives from the French word privé

Vancouver Island is in the northeastern Pacific Ocean, just off the coast of Canada. It is part of the Canadian province of British Columbia, the island is 460 kilometres in length,100 kilometres in width at its widest point, and 32,134 km2 in area. It is the largest island on the West Coast of North America and this area has one of the warmest climates in Canada, and since the mid-1990s has been mild enough in a few areas to grow subtropicalMediterranean crops such as olives and lemons. Vancouver Island has a population of 759,366 according to the Canada 2011 Census, nearly half of that figure live in the metropolitan area of Greater Victoria. Other notable cities and towns on Vancouver Island include Nanaimo, Port Alberni, Parksville and Campbell River. Victoria, the city of British Columbia, is located on the island. Vancouver Island has been the homeland to many indigenous peoples for thousands of years, the island was explored by British and Spanish expeditions in the late 18th century.

Quadras name was dropped from the name. It is one of several North American locations named after George Vancouver, Vancouver Island is the worlds 43rd largest island, Canadas 11th largest island, and Canadas second most populous island after the Island of Montreal. It is the largest Pacific island anywhere east of New Zealand, Vancouver Island has been the homeland to many indigenous peoples for thousands of years. The groupings, by language, are the Kwakwakawakw, Nuu-chah-nulth and their cultures are connected to the natural resources abundant in the area. The Kwakwakawakw today number about 5,500, who live in British Columbia on northern Vancouver Island and they are known as Kwakiutl in English, from one of their tribes, but they prefer their autonym Kwakwakawakw. Their indigenous language, part of the Wakashan family, is Kwakwala, the name Kwakwakawakw means speakers of Kwakwala. The language is now spoken by less than 5% of the population—about 250 people, today 17 separate tribes make up the Kwakwakawakw.

Some Kwakwakawakw groups are now extinct, Kwakwala is a Northern Wakashan language, a grouping shared with Haisla and Wuikyala. The Nuu-chah-nulth are indigenous peoples in Canada and their traditional home is on the west coast of Vancouver Island. The Nuu-chah-nulth speak a Southern Wakashan language and are related to the Makah of the Olympic Peninsula, Washington State. The Coast Salish are the largest of the southern groups and they are a loose grouping of many tribes with numerous distinct cultures and languages

The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until it was overthrown by the short-lived February Revolution in 1917. One of the largest empires in history, stretching over three continents, the Russian Empire was surpassed in landmass only by the British and Mongol empires. The rise of the Russian Empire happened in association with the decline of neighboring powers, the Swedish Empire, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, Persia. It played a role in 1812–14 in defeating Napoleons ambitions to control Europe. The House of Romanov ruled the Russian Empire from 1721 until 1762, and its German-descended cadet branch, with 125.6 million subjects registered by the 1897 census, it had the third-largest population in the world at the time, after Qing China and India. Like all empires, it included a large disparity in terms of economics, there were numerous dissident elements, who launched numerous rebellions and assassination attempts, they were closely watched by the secret police, with thousands exiled to Siberia.

Economically, the empire had an agricultural base, with low productivity on large estates worked by serfs. The economy slowly industrialized with the help of foreign investments in railways, the land was ruled by a nobility from the 10th through the 17th centuries, and subsequently by an emperor. TsarIvan III laid the groundwork for the empire that emerged and he tripled the territory of his state, ended the dominance of the Golden Horde, renovated the Moscow Kremlin, and laid the foundations of the Russian state. Tsar Peter the Great fought numerous wars and expanded an already huge empire into a major European power, Catherine the Great presided over a golden age. She expanded the state by conquest and diplomacy, continuing Peter the Greats policy of modernisation along West European lines, Tsar Alexander II promoted numerous reforms, most dramatically the emancipation of all 23 million serfs in 1861. His policy in Eastern Europe involved protecting the Orthodox Christians under the rule of the Ottoman Empire and that connection by 1914 led to Russias entry into the First World War on the side of France and Serbia, against the German and Ottoman empires.

The Russian Empire functioned as a monarchy until the Revolution of 1905. The empire collapsed during the February Revolution of 1917, largely as a result of failures in its participation in the First World War. Perhaps the latter was done to make Europe recognize Russia as more of a European country, Poland was divided in the 1790-1815 era, with much of the land and population going to Russia. Most of the 19th century growth came from adding territory in Asia, Peter I the Great introduced autocracy in Russia and played a major role in introducing his country to the European state system. However, this vast land had a population of 14 million, grain yields trailed behind those of agriculture in the West, compelling nearly the entire population to farm. Only a small percentage lived in towns, the class of kholops, close to the one of slavery, remained a major institution in Russia until 1723, when Peter I converted household kholops into house serfs, thus including them in poll taxation

Annexation is the political transition of land from the control of one entity to another. It is the incorporation of unclaimed land into a states sovereignty, in international law it is the forcible transition of one states territory by another state or the legal process by which a city acquires land. Usually, it is implied that the territory and population being annexed is the smaller, more peripheral and it can imply a certain measure of coercion, expansionism or unilateralism on the part of the stronger of the merging entities. Because of this, more positive euphemisms like political union/unification or reunification are sometimes seen in discourse, during World War II, the use of annexation deprived whole populations of the safeguards provided by international laws governing military occupations. The Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 amplified the Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907 with respect to the question of the protection of civilians, the team cemented in a brass plaque on Halls Ledge and hoisted the Union Flag to stake the UKs claim.

One example of a claimed annexation after World War II is the Kingdom of Norways southward expansion of the dependent territory Queen Maud Land. On most maps there had been an area between Queen Maud Lands borders of 1939 and the South Pole until June 12,2015 when Norway formally claimed to have annexed that area. The Antarctic Treaty, states, The treaty does not recognize, nor establish territorial sovereignty claims, within countries that are subdivided noncontiguously, annexation can take place whereby a lower-tier subdivision can annex territory under the jurisdiction of a higher-tier subdivision. An example of this is in the United States, where incorporated cities, municipalities can annex or be annexed by other municipalities, though this is less common in the United States. Laws governing the ability and the extent cities can expand in this fashion are defined by the individual states constitutions, annexation of neighbouring communities occurs in Canada. Irredentism List of national border changes since World War I Texas annexation Adam Roberts, transformative military occupation, applying the laws of war and human rights,100 The American Journal of International Law

The rush overtook the region around the discovery, and was centered on the Fraser Canyon from around Hope and Yale to Pavilion and Fountain, just north of Lillooet. The rush is credited with instigating European-Canadian settlement on the mainland of British Columbia and it was the catalyst for the founding of the Colony of British Columbia, the building of early road infrastructure, and the founding of many towns. People in San Francisco and the California gold fields greeted the news with excitement, within a month 30,000 men had descended upon Victoria. Until that time, the village had had a population of only about 500, all these routes were technically illegal since the Governor required that entry to the colony to be made via Victoria, but thousands came overland anyway. Accurate numbers of miners, especially on the upper Fraser, are difficult to reckon. Many of those first-arrived of European and British origin were Californian by culture, the numbers of Americans associated with the gold rush must be understood to be inherently European-ethnic to start with.

Anglo-American Southerners and New Englanders were well represented and this estimate was based on the Yale area and did not include the non-mining hangers-on population. Moody arrived in British Columbia in December 1858, commanding the Royal Engineers, Moody had hoped to begin immediately the foundation of a capital city, but upon his arrival at Fort Langley he learned of an outbreak of violence at the settlement of Hills Bar. This led to an incident popularly known as Ned McGowans War, during the fall of 1858, tensions increased between miners and the Nlakapamux, the First Nations people of the Canyon. This led to the Fraser Canyon War, the governor arrived in Yale to accept the apologies of the Americans who had waged war on the natives. Wanting to make the British military and governmental presence more visible, Douglas appointed justices of the peace, troops to maintain order, were still in short supply. Competition and interracial tensions between European Americans and non-white miners erupted on Christmas Eve 1858, with the beating of Isaac Dixon and he was the town barber and in years was a popular journalist in the Cariboo.

Dixon was beaten by two men from Hills Bar, the main town in the southern part of the goldfields. The complicated series of events that ensued is known as McGowans War and they did not need to use force, and were able to resolve the matter peacefully. The team dealt with the corruption of British appointees in the area and this title was briefly held by Port Douglas, and on by Barkerville. By 1860, the gold-bearing sandbars of the Fraser were depleted, many of the miners had either drifted back to the U. S. or dispersed further into the British Columbia wilderness in search of unstaked riches. Many others moved on to a rush in Colorado. Hauka, New Star Books, Vancouver ISBN 1-55420-001-6 British Columbia Chronicle, Gold & Colonists, Helen and G. P. V

The Spanish had found the islands a year earlier during the voyage of Manuel Quimper on the Princesa Real. Vancouvers expedition occurred within a year of Elizas, and Vancouver encountered other Spanish ships, thus Vancouver knew of the names given by Elizas expedition and tended to keep them, although he renamed some features, like the Strait of Georgia. Wilkes, sailing in 1841, had some British charts, but may not have been aware of the Spanish names and he liberally gave new names to nearly every coastal feature not already named on the charts he had. The names that Wilkes gave tended to be patriotically American, or to members of his crew. In 1847, due to the confusion of names on different charts. The project, led by Henry Kellett, applied only to British territory, which at the time included the San Juan Islands, Kellett systematically kept the British and Spanish names and removed nearly all of Wilkes names. In some cases Kellett moved Spanish names around to replace names given by Wilkes.

Some of his names survived the editing of Kellett, such as Chauncey, Decatur, Blakely, Sinclair, Gordon, in 1843, the Hudsons Bay Company established Fort Camosun at nearby Vancouver Island. This dispute, though simmering immediately in the wake of the treaty, in 1852 the Territory of Oregon created Island County, defined to include the San Juan Islands. In 1853 Island County became part of the newly created Washington Territory, Washington Territorys legislature created Whatcom County out of parts of Island County, including the San Juan Islands. In 1855 Washington Territory levied a property tax on properties of the Hudsons Bay Company on San Juan Island, Washington Territory advertised and sold the properties to satisfy the unpaid taxes. This led to talks between the governors of Washington Territory and the Colony of Vancouver Island and it soon became clear that the US claimed Haro Strait as the international border, while Britain claimed Rosario Strait, with both sides laying claim to the San Juan Islands

Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power.

Russian America was the name of the Russian colonial possessions in North America from 1733 to 1867. Settlements spanned parts of what are now the US states of California, many of its possessions were abandoned in the 19th century. In 1867 Russia sold its last remaining possessions to the United States for $7.2 million, the earliest written accounts indicate that the first Europeans to reach Alaska came from Russia. In 1648 Semyon Dezhnev sailed from the mouth of the Kolyma River through the Arctic Ocean, one legend holds that some of his boats were carried off course and reached Alaska. However, no evidence of settlement survives, dezhnevs discovery was never forwarded to the central government, leaving open the question of whether or not Siberia was connected to North America. In 1725, Tsar Peter the Great called for another expedition, as a part of the 1733-1743 second Kamchatka expedition, the Sv. Petr under the Dane Vitus Bering and the Sv, Pavel under the Russian Alexei Chirikov set sail from the Kamchatkan port of Petropavlovsk in June 1741.

They were soon separated, but each continued sailing east, on July 15, Chirikov sighted land, probably the west side of Prince of Wales Island in southeast Alaska. He sent a group of men ashore in a longboat, making them the first Europeans to land on the northwestern coast of North America, on roughly July 16, Bering and the crew of Sv. Petr sighted Mount Saint Elias on the Alaskan mainland, they turned westward toward Russia soon afterward, Pavel headed back to Russia in October with news of the land they had found. In November Berings ship was wrecked on Bering Island, there Bering fell ill and died, and high winds dashed the Sv. After the stranded crew wintered on the island, the built an boat from the wreckage. Berings crew reached the shore of Kamchatka in 1742, carrying word of the expedition, the high quality of the sea-otter pelts they brought sparked Russian settlement in Alaska. From 1743 small associations of fur traders began to sail from the shores of the Russian Pacific coast to the Aleutian islands, as the runs from Asiatic Russia to America became longer expeditions, the crews established hunting and trading posts.

By the late 1790s some of these had become permanent settlements, approximately half of the fur traders were Russians from various European parts of the Russian Empire or from Siberia. The others were indigenous people from Siberia or Siberians with mixed indigenous, rather than hunting the marine life, the Russians forced the Aleuts to do the work for them. As word spread of the riches in furs to be had, competition among Russian companies increased, catherine the Great, who became Empress in 1763, proclaimed goodwill toward the Aleuts and urged her subjects to treat them fairly. On some islands and parts of the Alaska Peninsula, groups of traders had been capable of relatively peaceful coexistence with the local inhabitants, other groups could not manage the tensions and perpetrated exactions

The Hudsons Bay Company, commonly referred to as The Bay, is a Canadian retail business group. HBCs head office is in the Simpson Tower in Toronto, the company is listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol HBC. It was once the worlds largest landowner, with the area of the Hudson Baywatershed, known as Ruperts Land, having 15% of North American acreage. From its long-time headquarters at York Factory on Hudson Bay, the company controlled the fur trade throughout much of the English, undertaking early exploration, its traders and trappers forged relationships with many groups of aboriginal peoples. Its network of trading posts formed the nucleus for official authority in areas of Western Canada. By the mid-19th century, the company evolved into a business selling everything from furs to fine homeware. They quickly introduced a new type of client to the HBC – one that shopped for pleasure and not with skins, in July 2008, HBC was acquired by NRDC Equity Partners, which owns the upmarket American department store Lord & Taylor.

From 2008 to 2012, the HBC was run through a company of NRDC, Hudsons Bay Trading Company. Since 2012, the HBC directly oversees its Canadian subsidiaries Hudsons Bay and Home Outfitters, on 29 July 2013, the HBC announced its takeover of Saks, Inc. operator of the Saks Fifth Avenue brand. The merger was completed on 3 November 2013, in September 2015, HBC acquired the German department store chain Galeria Kaufhof and its Belgiansubsidiary from Metro Group for $3.2 billion U. S. In May 2016, HBC announced it would expand to the Netherlands by taking over up to 20 former Vroom & Dreesmann sites by 2017, v&D was an historic Dutch department store chain that went bankrupt and shut down in early 2016. HBC said the expansion would cost CAD $340 million and create 2,500 jobs in the stores, the Dutch stores would operate under the Hudsons Bay and Saks Off Fifth brands. In January 2016, HBC announced it would expand deeper in the space with its acquisition of online flash sales site. In the 17th century the French had a de facto monopoly on the Canadian fur trade with their colony of New France.

Assuming this was Hudson Bay, they sought French backing for a plan to set up a trading post on the Bay, despite this refusal, in 1659 Radisson and Groseilliers set out for the upper Great Lakes basin. A year returned with premium furs, evidence of the potential of the Hudson Bay region. Subsequently, they were arrested for trading without a licence and fined, determined to establish trade in the Hudson Bay and Groseilliers approached a group of businessmen in Boston, Massachusetts to help finance their explorations. The Bostonians agreed on the plans merits but their speculative voyage in 1663 failed when their ship ran into pack ice in Hudson Strait, boston-based English commissioner ColonelGeorge Cartwright learned of the expedition and brought the two to England to raise financing

The Columbia River is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The river rises in the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia, Canada and it flows northwest and south into the US state of Washington, turns west to form most of the border between Washington and the state of Oregon before emptying into the Pacific Ocean. The river is 1,243 miles long, and its largest tributary is the Snake River and its drainage basin is roughly the size of France and extends into seven US states and a Canadian province. By volume, the Columbia is the fourth-largest river in the United States, the rivers heavy flow and relatively steep gradient gives it tremendous potential for the generation of electricity. The Columbia and its tributaries have been central to the regions culture and they have been used for transportation since ancient times, linking the many cultural groups of the region. The river system hosts many species of fish, which migrate between freshwater habitats and the saline waters of the Pacific Ocean.

In the following decades, fur trading companies used the Columbia as a key transportation route, steamships along the river linked communities and facilitated trade, the arrival of railroads in the late 19th century, many running along the river, supplemented these links. Since the late 19th century and private sectors have developed the river. The development, commonly referred to as taming or harnessing of the river, has been massive, to aid ship and barge navigation, locks have been built along the lower Columbia and its tributaries, and dredging has opened and enlarged shipping channels. Since the early 20th century, dams have been built across the river for the purposes of power generation, navigation and flood control. Today, a reservoir lies along nearly every US mile of the once free-flowing river. Production of nuclear power has taken place at two sites along the river, plutonium for nuclear weapons was produced for decades at the Hanford Site, which is now the most contaminated nuclear site in the US.

Thus in 1849, HBC moved its headquarters from Fort Vancouver on the Columbia River to Fort Victoria. Chief FactorJames Douglas, was relocated from Fort Vancouver to Fort Victoria to oversee the Companys operations west of the Rockies and this development prompted the British colonial office to designate the territory a Crown colony on January 13,1849. The colony was immediately leased to the HBC for a ten-year period, richard Blanshard was named the colonys governor. Blanshard discovered that the hold of the HBC over the affairs of the new colony was all but absolute, there was no civil service, no police, no militia, and virtually every British colonist was an employee of the HBC. Frustrated, Blanshard abandoned his post a year later, returning to England, in 1851, his resignation was finalized, and the colonial office appointed Douglas as governor. Initially, Douglas performed the delicate balancing act well, raising a domestic militia, by the mid-1850s, the colonys non-aboriginal population was approaching 500, and sawmill and coal mining operations had been established at Fort Nanaimo and Fort Rupert.

Douglas assisted the British government in establishing a base at present-day Esquimalt to check Russian and American expansionism. A secondary result was the replication of the British class system, with the attendant resistance to non-parochial education, land reform, at the time of the establishment of the colony, Vancouver Island had a large and varied First Nations population of upwards of 30,000. Douglas completed fourteen separate treaties with the nations, or tribes. They were given permission to hunt and fish over unoccupied territories, for these concessions, the nations were given a one-time cash payment of a few shillings each. As settlement accelerated, resentment towards the HBCs monopoly — both economic and civil — over the colony swelled, a series of petitions were sent to the colonial office, one of which resulted in the establishment of the Legislative Assembly of Vancouver Island in 1855. At first, little changed, given only a few dozen men met the voting requirement of holding twenty or more acres.

Moreover, the majority of the representatives were employees of the HBC, however, as time went on, the franchise was gradually extended, and the assembly began to assert demands for more control over colonial affairs and criticized Douglass inherent conflict of interest

While the climate is oceanic in nature, the dry summers result in the Mediterranean classification in the Köppen system. Rainfall ranges from over 100 inches conditions at the west end to as little as 16 inches at the east end and this strait remains the subject of a maritime boundary dispute between Canada and the United States. The dispute is only over the boundary extending 200 miles west from the mouth of the strait. The maritime boundary within the strait is not in dispute, both governments have proposed a boundary based on the principle of equidistance, but with different basepoint selections, resulting in small differences in the line. Resolution of the issue should be simple, but has been hindered because it might influence other unresolved maritime boundary issues between Canada and the United States, the proposed equidistant boundary currently marks the northern boundary of the Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary. British Columbias position is based on the principle of natural prolongation which developed in international law and it poses a dilemma for the federal government of Canada.

In this Atlantic Ocean context, Canada favours an outcome based on the principle of equidistance. C, making Salish Sea official required a formal application to the Geographical Names Board of Canada. This latter definition was made official in 2009 by geographic boards of Canada, the United States Board on Geographic Names approved the name on November 12,2009. Some Pacific Coast murres paddle north to the bays of the Strait of Juan de Fuca to feed on herring. A live weather station of the Race Rocks

Washington, D.C. formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington or D.C. is the capital of the United States. Founded after the American Revolution as the seat of government of the newly independent country, Washington was named after George Washington, first President of …

The United Kingdom, officially the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland but more commonly known as the UK or Britain, is a sovereign country lying off the north-western coast of the European mainland. The United Kingdom includes the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of …

The United States of America, commonly known as the United States or America, is a country composed of 50 states, a federal district, five major self-governing territories, and various possessions. At 3.8 million square miles, the United States is the world's …

James Knox Polk was the 11th president of the United States from 1845 to 1849. He previously was speaker of the House of Representatives and governor of Tennessee. A protégé of Andrew Jackson, he was a member of the Democratic Party and an …

The Oregon boundary dispute or the Oregon Question was a territorial dispute over the political division of the Pacific Northwest of North America between several nations that had competing territorial and commercial aspirations over the region. — Expansionist competition into the region began in the …

Galbraith

Representative John Floyd was the most prominent early Congressional member in favor of extensive American claims in the Pacific Northwest.

Merk

Senator Lewis Cass was a leading advocate of 54°40′, but backed away from the claim when it became untenable. Like James Buchanan, Cass had presidential ambitions and did not want to alienate Americans on either side of the Oregon question.

The 49th parallel north is a circle of latitude that is 49° north of Earth's equator. It crosses Europe, Asia, the Pacific Ocean, North America, and the Atlantic Ocean. — The city of Paris is about 15 km south of the 49th parallel and is the largest city between the 48th and 49th parallels …

Minnesota is a state in the Upper Midwest and northern regions of the United States. Minnesota was admitted as the 32nd U.S. state on May 11, 1858, created from the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory. The state has a large number of lakes, and is known by the slogan the "Land of …

The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range in western North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch more than 4,800 kilometers from the northernmost part of British Columbia, in western Canada, to New Mexico in the Southwestern United States. Located within …

The Hudson's Bay Company is a Canadian retail business group. A fur trading business for much of its existence, HBC now owns and operates retail stores in Canada, the United States, and parts of Europe including Belgium, the Netherlands, and Germany. The …

Logo on old fur trading fort

Hudson's Bay Company officials in an express canoe crossing a lake, 1825

The President of the United States is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces. — In contemporary times, the president is …

The Democratic Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. Tracing its heritage back to Thomas Jefferson and James Madison's Democratic-Republican Party, the modern-day Democratic Party was founded around 1828 by supporters of …

Annexation is the administrative action and concept in international law relating to the forcible acquisition of one state's territory by another state. It is generally held to be an illegal act. It is distinct from conquest, which refers to the acquisition of …

The Russian Empire, also known as Imperial Russia or simply Russia, was an empire that existed across Eurasia and North America from 1721, following the end of the Great Northern War, until the Republic was proclaimed by the Provisional Government that took power after the February Revolution of …

Peter the Great officially renamed the Tsardom of Russia as the Russian Empire in 1721 and became its first emperor. He instituted sweeping reforms and oversaw the transformation of Russia into a major European power.

The Mexican–American War, also known in the United States as the Mexican War and in Mexico as the American intervention in Mexico, was an armed conflict between the United States of America and the Second Federal Republic of Mexico from 1846 to 1848. It followed in the wake of the 1845 American …

James Buchanan Jr. was an American politician who served as the 15th president of the United States, serving immediately prior to the American Civil War. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the 17th United States secretary of state and had served …

Victoria was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death. On 1 May 1876, she adopted the additional title of Empress of India. — Victoria was the daughter of Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and …

Vancouver Island is in the northeastern Pacific Ocean. It is part of the Canadian province of British Columbia. The island is 460 kilometres in length, 100 kilometres in width at its widest point, and 32,134 km2 in area. It is the largest island on the West Coast of …

Vancouver Island is separated from mainland British Columbia by the Strait of Georgia and Queen Charlotte Strait, and from Washington by the Juan De Fuca Strait.

A Kwakwaka'wakw wedding ceremony in 1914

Dionisio Alcalá Galiano was the first European to circumnavigate Vancouver Island

The Great Seal of the Island of Vancouver and its Dependencies was designed by Benjamin Wyon, Chief Engraver of Her Majesty's Seals, c1849. The symbolic badge he designed are the basis for the flag of Vancouver Island, which is still unofficially flown today.

The Colony of British Columbia was a crown colony in British North America from 1858 until 1866. It was founded by Richard Clement Moody, who became the first Lieutenant-Governor of British Columbia from 1858 to 1863. At its creation, it physically constituted approximately half the present day …

The Canada–United States border, officially known as the International Boundary, is the longest international border in the world between two countries. It is shared between Canada and the United States, the second- and …

The Pig War was a confrontation in 1859 between the United States and United Kingdom over the British–U.S. border in the San Juan Islands, between Vancouver Island and the mainland. The Pig War, so called because it was triggered by the shooting of a pig, is also called the Pig Episode, the Pig and …

Aerial view of Roberts redoubt San Juan Island

The redoubt had a commanding view of San Juan Island's southern tip and the water approaches to the prairie from Griffin bay (left) and the Strait of Juan de Fuca

The Columbia River is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The river rises in the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia, Canada. It flows northwest and then south into the US state of Washington, then turns west to form most of the border between Washington and the …

Point Roberts is a pene-exclave of the United States on the southernmost tip of the Tsawwassen Peninsula, south of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The area, which had a population of 1,314 at the 2010 census, — is reached by land by traveling 25 mi through Canada. It is a …

Point Roberts cannery ca. 1918

Point Roberts taken from the south, looking north toward Vancouver

Notice at the international boundary between Canada and the United States in Point Roberts

Boundary post in Point Roberts, Washington at the boundary between U.S. and Canada; photo taken at English Bluff Road, Delta facing Marine Drive, Point Roberts

The Puget Sound Agricultural Company, with common variations of the name including Puget Sound or Puget's Sound, was a subsidiary joint stock company formed in 1840 by the Hudson's Bay Company. Its stations operated within the Pacific Northwest, in the HBC administrative division of …

The large herds of cattle owned by Californios in Alta California and the products derived from the animals were popular trade goods. This later helped convince the HBC to establish their own livestock venture on the Pacific Coast.

The Oregon Country was a predominantly American term referring to a disputed region of the Pacific Northwest of North America. The region was occupied by British and French Canadian fur traders from before 1810, and American settlers from the mid-1830s, with its coastal areas north from the …

Russian America was the name of the Russian colonial possessions in North America from 1733 to 1867. Its capital was Novo-Archangelsk, which is now Sitka, Alaska, USA. Settlements spanned parts of what are now the U.S. states of …

Russian America in 1860

Bering Strait, where Russia's east coast lies closest to Alaska's west coast

George Hamilton-Gordon, 4th Earl of Aberdeen, styled Lord Haddo from 1791 to 1801, was a British statesman, diplomat and landowner, successively a Tory, Conservative and Peelite politician, who served as Prime Minister from 1852 until 1855 in a coalition …

The San Juan Islands are an archipelago in the northwest corner of the contiguous United States between the U.S. mainland and Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. The San Juan Islands are part of the U.S. state of Washington. — In the archipelago, four islands are accessible by passenger ferry …

Boundary Bay is situated on the Pacific coast of North America on the Canada–United States border between the Canadian province of British Columbia and the U.S. state of Washington. — To the north and west, Boundary Bay is bounded by the municipality of Delta. — Point Roberts, Washington, lies to the …

Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, usually known simply as the Privy Council of the United Kingdom or just the Privy Council, is a formal body of advisers to the Sovereign of the United Kingdom. Its membership mainly comprises senior politicians who are current or former members of either …

The Fraser Canyon Gold Rush, began in 1857 after gold was discovered on the Thompson River in British Columbia at its confluence with the Nicoamen River a few miles upstream from the Thompson's confluence with the Fraser River at present-day …

The New Eldorado: "A Complete View of the Newly Discovered Goldfields"

The Strait of Juan de Fuca is a large body of water about 154 kilometres long that is the Salish Sea's outlet to the Pacific Ocean. The international boundary between Canada and the United States runs down the center of the Strait. — It was …

The Treaty of Washington was a treaty signed and ratified by the United Kingdom and the United States in 1871 during the First premiership of William Gladstone and the presidency of Ulysses S. Grant that settled various disputes between the countries, including the Alabama Claims for damages to …

Rosario Strait is a strait in northern Washington state, separating San Juan County and Skagit and Whatcom Counties. It extends from the Strait of Juan de Fuca about 23 kilometres north to the Strait of Georgia. The USGS defines its southern boundary as a line extending from Point Colville …

The Colony of Vancouver Island, officially known as the Island of Vancouver and its Dependencies, was a Crown colony of British North America from 1849 to 1866, after which it was united with the mainland to form the Colony of British Columbia. The united colony joined Canadian Confederation, thus …